Elections in the capital
This year’s parliamentary elections have come and gone and, by all accounts, it is a victory for democracy, with the people of the country having elected their candidates by voting them into parliament. May 11 was a highly significant day for voters as this was the one day when they had the opportunity to elect or reject candidates through the power of votes, and that’s exactly what they did. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the turnout remained around 60 per cent which is a very positive sign as this was previously witnessed in the first general elections ...
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K-P elections 2013: A farrago of hope and fear
Pashtuns are generally the most democratic people in Pakistan. By looking at the history of elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), it is safe to say that they have voted for parties with leftist, rightist or liberal religious ideologies. Furthermore, it shows that unlike others provinces, K-P voted for all parties in the previous elections and yet no one brought tranquility and development to this region. 2013 is another election year in Pakistan and the country will brace itself to one of the most crucial elections since its birth. In K-P, every political party has an active presence and as elections draw near, political parties ...
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Feeling regret in the markets of Parachinar
I cautiously embarked upon my journey through the tribal area in FATA, this was my first visit to the Kurram Agency. I stayed in Parachinar for six days, an area that had succumbed to sectarian violence, and was now trying to recuperate. Although the community has inflicted much of this violence upon itself, I was impressed by what they had learnt from their trials and how they were shaping their lives now. Having heard so much about the violence that prevailed in Parachinar, I assumed a guarded pose upon reaching the disputed area. To my surprise, the Kohat-Parachinar road, once ...
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Saeed Book Bank: Another casualty in KP
It’s not that I never anticipated the closure of one of Peshawar’s largest and oldest bookstores, Saeed Book Bank, yet that news still broke my heart. I can’t exactly recall my first visit to the store but I do know it was the best book store in the province. Saeed Book Bank has been regarded as a site worth mentioning to tourists in Peshawar. It has served the literary and educational needs of the people of KP for over five decades. Saeed Book Bank was established in 1955 by Saeed Jan Qureshi. His sons took over the family business in 1985. ...
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Is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa better off than NWFP?
“Why was naming our province Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the course of ANP’s tenure so crucial?” I have asked my father repeatedly and consequently got into long discussions on why NWFP just had be renamed. Was this the issue that surpassed all our other problems? I don’t think so. When I asked several colleagues the same question one said, “I don’t think I care whether it’s called KPK or NWFP. We’re knee-deep in a serious crisis that needed to be tackled first. This could have been addressed later.” Over all, the name change was met with a lot of enthusiasm from the pro-Pakhtunkhwa population but has faced a resistence ...
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